American Truck Simulator Rolling Out Today, Early

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Get a flask of coffee brewing, brush up on your CB slang, find an empty plastic bottle, and stop listening to me spouting rubbish. Here, you might instead enjoy these photos from inside truckers’ cabins. Or you can go on your own trucking adventure sooner than expected. American Truck Simulator [official site] was due to launch tomorrow, but developers SCS Software have decided they’ll launch it later today instead. It’ll save them from staying up super-late, see, and American Truck Simulator does teach it’s important to stay well-rested.

“We were thinking of unleashing the game at midnight Prague time. However, going through all the release process late at night and staying on alert for a while after the game gets out to see if no hot-fixing is needed immediately takes some hours. The release crew would not get to bed before 4 am.”

Tsk tsk, that wouldn’t do. Instead, they’ll release it this evening (European time, so it’ll be in the afternoon American time). Given that the download is only one gigabyte (or my pre-release preview build is, anyway), you should have time to snag it and pootle around for a bit before it’s time for beddy-byes. Yes, codes from boxes copies should start working at the same time.

While Alec headed to the lands of big skies and dry soil, I started my American Truck Simulator adventure in North California. I was trying to hit the forests as soon as possible, of course. And… I was a bit disappointed. It’s really not good at forests. I made the mistake of looking at the real-world equivalents of roads I’d driven down and their trees were so much taller, so much closer to the road, and their surroundings far more dramatic. Ah well! The barren bits Alec explored do look nice, though, and the initial release includes California and Nevada (Arizona will follow later for free) so it does have plenty of that scrubby stuff.

I’m the same. Even though i already own ATS, i wont be playing it much. ETS2 is set up exactly how i want it, with 15GB of mods that all add to variety and realism (to an extent). Will take a while before the ATS mod scene will get up to that level.

So I’ve played Euro Truck Simulator 2 for a bit, and I really enjoyed it. How does this compare? Is it pretty much the same game, but with a new location? Are there enough improvements to the mechanics/systems to make it worth it if I don’t really care about driving in the American desert?

No, not really, you summed up everything that’s new about ATS. In my opinion it’s even more limited than ETS2, because of the fact that there are only 2 trucks to drive at launch. Think i’ll revisit it once more trucks are in, either by modders (there are some decent free American truck mods made for ETS2 that could be ported over), or by SCS. But as it stands now? No i could not recommend it unless you really care about the new map (which you just indicated you don’t).

The thing about ETS2 is that, by virtue of it being an amazingly well-crafted simulation game, there aren’t really a lot of new features or mechanics you can add without diluting the core experience. For instance, the ability to get out of my truck and walk around the gas stations and tourist attractions might be nice, but how much of a place does it have in a game explicitly stated to be about truck driving?

I’m not trying to say that there isn’t room for improvement, but this is a sequel to a game where you can adjust your mirrors, get people flashing their highbeams at you if you forget to turn yours off, and replicates the transportation network of almost an entire continent. It’s fair to say that the devs have limited options when it comes to adding features while retaining the series’ trademark razor-sharp focus on the fundamental experience of being a commercial truck driver.

There’s more in-depth simulation features they could add without changing the core experience for people that still want simplicity. For example like the way they are handling auto braking mechanisms now (it’s switchable to completely manual, like it is in an actual truck). This could be extended to many features and systems that are unique to a truck, and would add a lot to simulation buffs. If you want a game that does this masterfully by example, check out OMSI 2.

“Are there enough improvements to the mechanics/systems to make it worth it Are there enough improvements to the mechanics/systems to make it worth it ”

I am an SCS beta-tester for ETS2 and ATS. Improvements from one game cross over to the other. For instance, the adjustable driver seats started in ATS. We suggested that they be incorporated into ETS2 as well. After about a month, that feature was added. I suggested markers on the map near the beginning of ETS2; those were eventually added.

We are testing many more additions to ETS2 and ATS. Stay tuned. YOu’re going to love them both!!

With only 2-3 states in the base game, looks like they’re really laying the foundations for a whole convoy of DLCs. Some states are bigger than others, but at 4-5 states per pack we’re looking at 10 or so DLCs. And if Going East and Scandinavia are any indication, they’re not going to be particularly cheap…

I’m on the fence I love ETS2 and I think SCS is a great company. However, ATS seems so freaking empty. Only 2 states and 2 trucks? That’s near unforgivable for a game about trucking through the States. I know at least 2 free trucks and 1 state are coming in the near future. I also know that SCS has been great with free content. But I can’t shake the feeling that somehow ATS will either end up being empty or have paid DLC up the wazoo. But on the other hand ETS 2 was told and I sunk way way too much time into it. Gah what to do?!

It’s priced accordingly though, £14.99 on Steam and cheaper elsewhere. If you pick up the future DLCs when they’re on sale, the total outlay won’t be that bad.

The downside to releasing in chunks is the small initial area might make you get bored quick, and the new areas might not offer enough to make you go back. That’s kinda what happened for me with the ETS2 DLCs.

The only truck I ever had any real desire to drive is this particular MACK with included hazardous chemicals trailer: link to youtube.com so are you saying we can actually do that now, in ATS? And if for whatever reason the answer is no, then why not? Surely it’s the most obvious choice isn’t it?